


Happiness Found Through Eternity

by GrimSylphie



Series: Finding Happiness [13]
Category: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Chaos Siblings, Character Death, Domestic Fluff, F/F, Gen, M/M, Team as Family, Temporary Character Death, Training, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-18
Updated: 2020-09-25
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:41:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 13,852
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26519935
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GrimSylphie/pseuds/GrimSylphie
Summary: The final part of this series, Booker has finally achieved stability with his lovers but the question of his son’s mortality comes to the forefront just as the team faces their greatest loss.
Relationships: Andy | Andromache of Scythia/Quynh | Noriko, Booker | Sebastien le Livre/Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolo di Genova
Series: Finding Happiness [13]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1875796
Comments: 32
Kudos: 151





	1. The Change

**Author's Note:**

> Hello all, this was coming along very slowly so I decided to upload it in chapters. It really is André focused but it will contain a good amount of the team together and deal with how they adjust to certain changes. The third and fourth chapter in particular will be very team heavy.
> 
> This is the last part of the series. I might always go back and add more later but for the most part this is it. It’s the end of the main storyline. I wanted to tie up any loose ends with André’s story since I think Booker found his happy ending with Nicky and Joe. Thank you all for sticking with me.

André was staying outside of Puerto Ayora, in the Galapagos volunteering with the local veterinarian clinic to learn about their efforts in controlling the domestic animal population through rescue and spay/neuter while also learning about the diverse wildlife that could be found no where else in the world. He often followed one of the more experienced veterinarians into the field and from island to island since animals couldn’t be transferred between islands. This was just one of many stops to unique clinics that he made since becoming a licensed veterinarian. He was planning on gaining as much knowledge as he could in the hopes of traveling to some of the world’s most remote regions to help the animals there. He spent most of his time working on taking day trips to see the neighboring islands. He called his dads once a week, on Tuesdays for a video chat and they had even visited two month back. 

Therefore he was a bit surprised to see he had four missed calls and five text messages when he pulled his phone from his locker at the end of his shift. He browsed through the texts, a few were from friends but one was from his papa, it simply said, ‘Sorry to bother you at work, call when you read this.’ There was a follow up that said ‘Ignore the time difference.’ He looked at the time. It was almost two in the morning but whatever it was it had been important enough that his dads called several times during the day.

He grabbed his bag and went outside while dialing his papa’s number. As it rang he started unlocking his bike so he could ride home. Finally on the fourth ring he heard his babbo’s voice. “André, I’m glad you called. I just got the others to fall asleep.” The ancient Genoan explained.

“Babbo, what’s going on. Why did papa want me to call? Are he and baba okay? Are you okay? Did something happen to one of you?” André asked, leaning against the pole he had locked his bike to.

“We are all right André, well as all right as can be. Andy died today.” Nicky responded choking back a sob.

“What? What happened? I know she was getting up there in years but she was perfectly healthy when I left.” André argued. He didn’t know Aunt Andy much growing up and while he had been cold to her initially when she reappeared in his life, they had bonded over a shared love of animals. 

She had actually been the one who gave him the idea to become a vet. “There are always animals in need of help.” She said once during family dinner. When she and Aunt Quynh moved out of the city to care for horses the way Aunt Andy did when she was young she made sure to teach him how to care for them too. She taught him how to ride and even got him a horse for his graduation from undergrad. He spent a lot of time out at the farm on holidays with the family. They had become super close. Sometimes he thought he spoke with her more than his dads (she hated texting). So to hear that she was gone when he had just spoken to her three days ago was a bit of a shock. 

“I know, passerotto, I know. Quynh found her in the barn unconscious. She had intercranial bleeding. Likely, a hemorrhage. She was gone by the time the medics got there.” Nicky explained. 

André was used to babbo’s explanations being objective and apathetic. He knew it was how he held it together as a doctor, by withdrawing himself from the situation. Hearing him explain what happened to Aunt Andy that way was different. It brought tears to his eyes because he knows it means babbo is pushing down his own feelings in order to act as the rock for their family. 

“How are you hanging in there?” He asked trying to hold back his tears for his father’s sake. 

“I am... I have been prepared for this. I knew I would have to stay strong for your baba and papa. Also for Aunt Quynh and Nile, I will have time to grieve later.” He explained. 

“Well I am happy to listen if you need me babbo.” André offered. “When should I plan to be home?” He asked already planning to return for whatever sort of private funeral or memorial his family had planned. 

“As soon as you can get things settled there. We put her body on ice. It won’t keep perfectly but it will be fine until you return. I think it will be better for the others once there is closure.” His father explained.

“Of course, I’ll look at flights as soon as I get home.” He promised. “I’m still at work so I can go back in and see how long I can come home for.” 

“Thank you, André, I’m sorry this happened now. I know how important your work is to you.” Nicky offered.

“Think nothing of it, babbo. Now please get some rest.” André offered before relocking his bike and heading back inside.

“Of course, good bye and stay safe. We love you André.” Nicky offered.

“I will, love you too, babbo.” André replied.

André went in and found his supervisor and ended up working out that he could get off for two weeks including the travel time which meant he could spend at least a week and a half with his family. Maybe more if he was able to get good flights.

By the time he made it back outside it was dark so he turned on the lights he had attached to his bike and his helmet. He unlocked his bike and road his way along the dirt road that led to the small house he was renting at the edge of town. 

He managed to make it back and headed straight for his laptop. He started heating up leftovers while he waited for the slower than average internet service that was customary on a remote island to bring him to the website for the few local airlines that would take him off the island. When it finally loaded he frowned. He had forgotten it was July. That was holiday season for the tourist market which meant the small commercial planes were all filled up. 

He moved on to texting friends, between bites of food. He was seeing if anyone knew of a supply plane or charter that could get him back to the mainland. By the time he finished dinner and washed the few dishes in his sink he had found a friend of a friend who was willing to fly him back to the mainland since he was going to help his sister with the birth of her first child and planned to go tomorrow anyway. André was beyond grateful. They would leave in the late morning and from there André was only an airline connection or two away from home. There were plenty of seats on flights leaving from the mainland back home. André starts packing up and sets an alarm so he won’t miss his ticket home. 

The next morning is foggy. André checks his phone repeatedly before riding over to the small airport because he thinks for sure that his flight will be cancelled. When he arrives though, he finds the pilot already running flight checks. The man smiles at him and asks if he’s nervous. André replies that he’s not. After all, he wasn’t the one with a pilot’s license not was he the one with experience flying between the islands and the mainland. If this man felt he could get them there safely who was André to complain. The man was eager to set off. He wanted to make sure he arrived before his first niece or nephew as born. André didn’t think anything of it as he jumped in the plane with his bag. 

He should have. He had been on a fair amount of planes in his life as he got older and his fathers took him abroad but none had been quite like this. He wasn’t sure how the pilot was able to navigate through the fog. More than once he thought a window would blow out while flying. Landing was a nightmare too. He nearly thought they would crash. Fortunately he survived and was able to make his flight connections. 

It was late at night when he finally arrived in Barcelona. He wasn’t sure if one day passed or if it was two at this point but either way it was 23:00 at night. He had picked Barcelona because it would get him home than if he had gone to Montpellier directly, even with the three and a half hour car ride. He was able to pick up a car without waiting given the late hour and was on the road before midnight. Normally he would have had his family pick him up to avoid the relocation fees of moving a rental to another country but they had enough on their plates.

The drive was easy given the late hour. He found he was making great time and it was likely he would arrive at the farm early. Whenever he was out of range of the cities he found himself looking at the stars and thinking of nights when he and his dads would go to the garden and they would tell them stories of what the stars and constellations meant to each of them. He had just passed Narbonne and was recalling baba’s tale of how bright the North Star was even among the white of the Russian snow as they tracked papa for the first time. The same star shone now, just ahead and to his left as he journeyed home. 

Vroom.

He was pulled from his thoughts by a sudden noise. Sure enough a moment later a motorcycle sped by him nearly clipping his car. He hadn’t seen it coming up until he heard it’s engine. By then it was nearly upon him. He refocused himself and tightened his grip on the steering wheel. It was dangerous to lose himself in memories while driving even when the roadway was empty. He saw lights behind him and three more motorcycles sped by, each weaving dangerously around his car. It was a bit unusual but not so much so that he was concerned about it. It was probably just some kids racing or something.

He continued driving for a bit longer. No one else passed him and he had honestly forgot about the motorcycles by that point. He was in a more remote part of the highway between Salles d’Aude and Béziers when he came across a bright set of lights blocking the road. He slowed down, shifting into a lower gear. When he got closer he could see the lights came from several motorcycles abandoned on the ground. Their rides stood beyond them, their silhouettes visible against the bright light. It seemed like some sort of confrontation between the first biker that passed him and those that came after. André didn’t want to get involved. He needed to get to his family. There was no way around them with their bikes blocking the road though. He considered honking a horn when one silhouette pulled what could only be a gun from somewhere on his person. He shot another silhouette and it crumpled to the ground.

Shit. André thought to himself. He wasn’t sure what he had just gotten in the middle of but he didn’t really want to find out. 

He fiddled with his car to get it to shift into reverse and turned around without a care that he was going the wrong way on the highway. Apparently he wasn’t quiet enough because he heard more shots and his rear windshield shattered. He continued down the road heading back to Salles d’Aude in the hopes that they wouldn’t trail him to a more populous area. He didn’t hear them for a few minutes and almost hoped they hadn’t given chase. He was about to slow down when he heard the engines gaining on him once more. They surrounded him and started forcing him off the road. He tried to push back, moving his car closer to the left lane but one of them struck out with some sort of blunt object and shattered his passenger side window. With no choice he tried to slow down but one of his tires was blown out and his car spun off the road and into a ditch. 

For a moment André blacked out and when he came to he found his car had flipped a few times and a piece of shrapnel had made it impossible to reach his seatbelt. He could feel a bit lightheaded and was almost certain he had blood on his face but he knew that would heal enough. He tried to figure out how he could escape the car but was wedged inside but the damage. That’s when a shattering sound came from right beside him. He was hit with a few glass shards and he turned to see one of his attackers with some sort of black stick in hand. He had used it to shatter André’s window. André tried to move to get away but the seatbelt, the airbags, and something hard and unyielding held him firmly.

“I am sorry about this, but you really shouldn’t have seen that.” The man explained in French using a foreign accent that André couldn’t place. “Know that while you are a casualty in this war that many other lives were saved tonight.” 

André was pissed. How dare this man claim that he was doing some sort of greater good. Chances were he was just a thug from some organized crime. André spat some bloody saliva out at the man. He laughed and lifted the portion of his motorcycle helmet’s visor that covered his eyes. They were a deep brown that André might have appreciated more if they were on someone he tried to pick up a bar instead of a killer. He also noticed dark olive toned skin and a smattering of freckles. It wouldn’t be enough to identify the man later but he committed it to memory nonetheless. 

“You have a spark. Too bad.” The man responded and reached his arms around André’s head.

“No! Non! Non!” André shouted before the man started twisting. He heard a snap and blacked out. Dead.


	2. The Return

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part two. The family reunites. This doesn’t deal a lot with Andy’s death but that will be covered in later chapters. The team is already in a mourning and holding patten there so André takes priority for the family.

When André woke up it was to the sound of birds. It took a minute for it all to come back to him. He wasn’t sure how long he floated in and out of consciousness before he recalled the reason he was so uncomfortable was because he was trapped in his rental car. He opened his eyes and tried to sit up but the seatbelt still wasn’t budging. It was still dark and his car’s lights were dead. He could barely see the beginning of light on the horizon indicating that dawn was fast approaching. He took stock of his extremities and found that he could feel and twitch all of them but that he remained trapped, unable to reposition himself. He tried to move his hand towards the seatbelt again hoping maybe it would now release but there was no such luck. He moved his hand to his pocket in the hope that he left something useful and found his phone. Normally he would have used it for GPS but the road back home was familiar to him so he hadn’t bothered. After nearly three attempts he was able to pull it out of his pocket using the two fingers with enough range of motion to reach inside. He couldn’t pull it up to where he could see it but once he got his hands on it he was able to unlock it and fiddle around blindly in an effort to make a call. Eventually he heard the phone ring and switched it to speaker phone. He wasn’t sure who he had managed to call but at this point he hoped whoever it was picked up given the early hour. 

“Andre? Why are you calling so early? Did they forget to put the spare key back in the barn again?” responded an exhausted voice he knew to be Aunty Nile. 

He let out a sigh of relief he hadn’t realized he’d been holding back. “Aunty Nile.” It sometimes felt strange calling a woman who was physically a year or two younger than him Aunty but that was what she had always been to him. “I need help. I think... I think I died last night.” He felt tears well up in his eyes. He had his neck broken, he was almost certain it had been deadly. He found himself panicking at the implications that dying would have for him. Did his parents have nightmares about it? Would he be able to go back and finish his internship? Would the men from last night hunt him down if they found out he was still alive. He started to hyperventilate but it was a wheezing sound, indicative that there was something keeping him from fully healing. 

“André, calm down. Breathe slowly. In... then out...” Aunty Nile slowed down her own breathing so he could match it. “I’m going to ask you some questions so I can come get you.” She explained. “Do you know where you are?”

“On the highway headed home. I had just past Salles d’Aude but hadn’t yet reached Béziers. They ran me off the road. I’m not sure how easy it will be to see the car.” André offered.

“Okay, are you in any immediate danger?” Aunty Nile continued. He could hear her typing in the background of the call. 

“Not immediate. If the medics find me or if the thugs who ran me off the road come back that could change but for now it’s just that I’m stuck in the car unable to move enough to get out.” André answered.

“All right. Listen, I’m going to grab some power tools from the shed in case I have to cut you out of there and then I’m going to grab the Jeep and be there in forty-five.” Nile explained.

“It’ll take you at least an hour.” André argued.

“I’ll be there in forty-five.” Nile answered. “Do you want to stay on the line with me or do you want me to wake your dads?” 

André groaned. They were already going through a ton, how was he supposed to tell them that he was fairly certain he died and needed to be cut out of his rental car. 

“I’ll take that as you’ll be staying on with me. In that case you are going to tell me every animal you’ve treated in the past week.” Nile commanded.

André swallowed. His dads all look to Aunty Nile the same way they did Aunt Andy. She was a leader and a commanding presence. This was the first time that tone had ever been turned on him and he found that he felt a lot like a soldier answering his commanding officer. 

“Okay... so I think last Saturday we had an adoption event so I checked out shelter dogs to make sure they were in good health until their new families took them home...” he started.

He fell into a bit of a trance, recounting the events of the last week. Occasionally Nile would chime in with a question or a remark. The passage of time kind of blurred and he actually wasn’t sure how much time had passed until he heard the sound of the Jeep pulling up. 

“Oh, André.” He heard both through the phone and from Aunty Nile as she approached. “You look like shit, kiddo.” 

André laughed but again it came out as a wheezing sound and some blood dribbled down his chin. “Thanks. Glad to see you too.” 

Nile brought a knife out from the inside of her boot. “I’m gonna try to cut you out of the seatbelt and remove some of the remains of these airbags so that I can get a better look at you and see how best to get you out.”

“Thanks, Aunty.” André offered a tired smile. 

“No problem. We’ll have to talk about what exactly happened that landed you here at some point.” Nile commented, cutting away the seatbelt so he was less pinned and moving the remains of the airbags out of the way. He could now look down and see his arm was pinned below a piece of tree branch that came across his body and had somehow found its way into his chest. Based on the way blood occasionally bubbles out of it, his body must have been trying to heal with it still inside.

“I’ll tell you when we get home otherwise my dads will just want o hear it again.” André argued. 

Nile looked in at André. “Oooh, impaled by a branch. That’s not a fun way to go.” 

“Honestly, I’m kind of numb to it.” André replied, looking down at himself.

“Yeah, that happens sometimes.” Nile offered with a smile. “I don’t think I have a good angle to take it out of you while you’re still in there so I’m going to cut off the car door and cut the branch so I have enough room to pull it the rest of the way out of your body.” 

“Whatever gets me home and to a shower.” André agreed.

Nile got to work. She used a small handsaw to cut the branch about four inches from where it entered André’s body and then proceeded to use a reciprocating saw plugged into a battery pack she had brought with her to cut the door off of André’s rental car. He wasn’t sure how long it took her but by the time she finally pulled him from the vehicle the sun had fully risen and he was exhausted. 

That was only half the battle. “The nice thing about immortality is that while everything hurts like hell, the knowledge that it won’t kill you means I can do things like this.” She explained be do we unceremoniously pulling the branch from his body. 

André suddenly felt much lighter but it became harder to breathe. Nile seemed to be digging around the wound making sure to grab any splitters that came out while it healed. After a few minutes he was able to catch his breath once more, his body good as new.

“You ready to go?” His aunt asked, putting out her hand for him to accept. 

“Yeah, can you grab my bag out of the boot?” André asked. He took her hand and leaned against her as she helped walk him to the passenger side of the Jeep. He sat his back against the seat and leveraged his arms and legs to pull himself into the vehicle. 

Nile fiddled with the damaged opening to the boot for a minute before managing to get in and grab André’s bag. She shoved it in the back of the Jeep with the saws before walking around and hopping in the drivers side. Once they were back on the highway she spoke. “Can you stick my phone on speaker and call the number that says Copley?” She asked.

The Jeep was unique in this day and age in that the electronic computer that most cars had in the center console. The one that allowed you to connect and call hands free was missing. Aunt Andy ripped it out and said it was a liability since it could be tracked. It had taken a while to find a suitable replacement part.

“Sure.” André replied, scrolling through contacts until he arrived at the name Copley.

“Miss Freeman, you are calling bright and early this morning. I didn’t expect to hear from you so soon, if I’m being honest.” Came an aged male voice from that other end that picked up after three rings.

“Yeah, sorry about that. I’m not calling for a mission, I need you to remove records of a car rental under the name André Le Livre and remove all recordings from the Barcelona Airport relating to it.” Nile explained. “If any traffic cam footage shows the driver of the rental remove that too.” 

The clicking of a keyboard was heard for a few moments before the man responded. “You know I must ask, Le Livre? Is this for the boys’ mysterious child I’m supposed to pretend I don’t know exists.” 

“Can’t slip anything past you.” Nile laughed. In André’s opinion she hadn’t even tried. “André got into a spot of trouble and officially joined the family last night, so you might as well be introduced.” She smiled at André. “André, the man on the other end is James Copley, he’s former CIA and is responsible for cleaning up our digital footprint and making sure the jobs we do are for the good of the world whenever possible. Copley, in the car with me is André, he’s Booker, Joe, and Nicky’s son.”

“Nice to meet you.” André responded but it came out much quieter than intended. He hadn’t expected Nile to introduce him to the man who kept track of them all. He had heard stories about Copley every now and again in the context of missions but he hadn’t expected to ever speak to him.

“Lovely to meet you as well. I’m sorry about your Andromache. She saved countless lives and I know she meant a great deal to you and your family.” The voice, Copley’s voice responded.

“Thanks.” André replied, unsure of how to deal with someone who was basically a stranger to him discussing his family in such a way.

“Nile, I will have the matter of the car sorted out shortly. Please, give your family my best.” Copley offered before hanging up.

“I didn’t expect him to sound so old.” André comments a few minutes later.

Aunt Nile breaks out into laughter and it takes her a few minutes to compose herself. “Honestly, he wasn’t all that young when I met him for the first time. Your view of things is probably just skewed because you’ve spent most of your life never seeing your family age. That being said, he is ancient. He and Booker are trying to figure out if he should take an apprentice or if Book will go back to handling that sort of thing.”

André tilted his head and gave Nile an inquisitive look. “Has he been doing any of the tech work for your missions recently? I thought he had retired once I was born.” 

Nile shrugged. “He did. When you went to college he got bored so he asked Copley to help him get up to date on the latest tech.” She explained.

“Papa told me once that the only reason he’s the tech expert is because Baba and Babbo thought that musket balls were a novelty.” André explained.

That got Aunt Nile laughing again. It took a while but once she finally stopped she shared a story of her own. “Joe once told me that when they met he taught Nicky that regular baths were important. Apparently he felt that twice a year was more than enough.” 

“No!!!!” André shouted in disbelief. “Babbo takes the longest showers. I cannot imagine a world where he doesn’t believe in bathing.” 

“That’s what I’m told.” Aunt Nile offered with a shrug. 

Soon enough the drive was over and they arrived at the house. André considered trying to sneak in through the back and getting up to guest bedroom so he could change before his fathers saw the blood but the moment Nile turned the car off Joe came out to greet her. 

“Where have you...” he started before taking in André and his appearance. He ran forward and pulled André into his arms. “André! Are you all right? What happened?” 

Suddenly André found his baba had lowered him into one of the deck chairs outside the house and was pulling at his shirt to see if there were any injuries remaining. “Baba! I’m all right.” He argued.

Before he could say more his other dads and Aunt Quynh arrived outside. His papa knelt down next to him and pulled him into a hug. André returned it and heard his papa whispering how much he missed him. “Papa! I’m all right. I missed you too.” 

His papa pulled back and took in his appearance for the first time. “All right? You’re covered in blood. What happened to you?”

André looked over his papa’s head trying to plead to Babbo, Aunty Quynh, or Aunty Nile to intervene but none would. His babbo actually pulled him in for an awkward hug as well. “You can tell us, no matter what it is.” He encouraged.

“Dads, I’m fine. I just... I was in the wrong place at the wrong time.” André offered. None of them seemed to believe them. 

“I found him impaled on a stick in a ditch.” Nile offered.

“Traitor.” André hissed. 

“Maybe you should tell us the whole story, André.” Baba countered.

“Let’s do it over breakfast and let him get changed out of those clothes.” Babbo added.

Papa nodded, they were impossible to argue with when they were in sync. “Yes, come on André, I’ll carry your bag and set some clothes out, you go straight to the shower and wash off the blood and grime.”

André sighed unable to truly object to the idea of a hot shower. He headed towards the guest bathroom he usually used when visiting Aunt Andy and Aunt Quynh and stripped out his clothes. His shirt had a hole in it from where he had been impaled but his pants only had a few drops of blood and might be salvaged. He threw the shirt in the trash and the pants in the sink to get washed later.

He turned the shower up as hot as he could handle without scalding himself and stood under it, allowing the dirt and blood to wash down the drain. Now that he was alone and the adrenaline was wearing off he began to realize what had happened. That man had snapped his neck. He had died. There was no way the sort of contract killers who were bold enough to kill a man on a highway were going to make a mistake like leaving a witness alive. Especially after they went through the trouble to track him down. 

He was twenty-seven and he was dead. He knew it was a possibility, hell, he knew it was a probability but the idea of never being able to settle down for too long. The idea that he may never grow old was suddenly all too real. He found himself crying. He curled up on the floor of the shower and mourned the loss of his mortality. 

Eventually the tears dried up and he stood and began washing off. His stomach growled. His dads were probably finishing up breakfast so he hurried to put on the clothes papa had set out for him.

By the time he went downstairs Aunty Nile and Aunty Quynh had made themselves scarce. He had no doubt they were somewhere they would be able to hear his story but they had made themselves scarce so his fathers could grill him.

When he came downstairs he smelt the distinctive smell of his papa’s crepes and what he was certain was the American style pancakes they had favored ever since Aunty Nile entered his fathers’ lives. 

When he reached the kitchen he saw babbo setting the table while papa cooked crepes at one set of burners while baba flipped pancakes at the other. They occasionally bumped their hips against one another, flirting.

No one spoke as babbo took completed platters to wherever his aunts were hiding. It was only once the plates were set out for the four of them that they finally began their questioning.

“André, what happened? Are you in danger?” Papa started.

“Non papa, I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.” André explained between bites. “I was driving my rental and I almost got my car clipped by the motorcycle chase.” He started. 

“A motorcycle chase on a major highway? Not a race?” Baba cut in. Babbo elbowed him for his interruption. 

“No, it was a chase. I didn’t think much of it until I got further down the road and they were all blocking it. There were three motorcycles that chased a single one down. I was going to honk to tell them to get out of the road but one pulled a gun on the single rider and shot him. I tried to turn around and head back into the nearest town but they caught up to me and ran me off the road.” He explained.

“Ahh, so that is why you had leaves in your hair.” Papa joked, trying to lighten the tense mood.

André cracked a small smile despite himself. “Yeah. They weren’t satisfied with that though. They snapped my neck, papa. I died.” 

Silverware clattered and suddenly André found himself scooped up in his papa’s arms. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry my sweet boy.” 

André felt tears filling his eyes as he started crying like a child again. “I... I didn’t think... I didn’t realize how it would feel. I didn’t think of what I might lose.”

“I’m so sorry we’ve given you this burden.” His papa whispered as baba and babbo joined the hug.

“I, it’s okay papa. I also gained a lot. I’ll be able to stay with my family. I won’t have to lose you all and you won’t have to lose me. I’ll get to see the world in the ways I always dreamed of growing up.” André comforted. “I just, I didn’t realize how big of a change it would be. I thought knowing it might come would have prepared me for it.”

“I don’t know that anything could have truly prepared you for it. I’m sorry you had to go through that alone.” Babbo chimed in, comforting him.

“We’ll be here for you for a very long time. We’ll do anything and everything we can to help you André. This can be a gift too.” Baba added.

“Thank you, I didn’t mean for you to think I’m ungrateful, it’s just overwhelming.” André cried, noting that his parents were crying too. 

“Don’t worry about that. You are hear, you’re safe now. Everything else can be worked through later.” Papa soothed, running his hands through André’s hair.


	3. The End

Once he and his parents finally broke from their group hug his aunts rejoined breakfast. André found he was relieved that the attention was off of him. He wanted to be able to enjoy his time with his family. Or at least as much as he could given the circumstances. 

“What are we going to do about Aunt Andy?” André asked, unable to help himself.

Quynh looked like she wanted to cry. André knew from experience that she felt that sort of show of emotion was a sign of weakness though. 

“She wanted to be burned. She didn’t want us to be bound to return to a spot when her soul wasn’t there.” Nicky explained.

André nodded, taking in his father’s words. 

“Scythians were generally mummified and buried. Then the burial sites were marked with burial mounds.” Joe explained. “We mummified her using the methods as best we could between records and things she once told us.”

“We won’t be leaving a mound behind though. We’ll cremate her at a pyre. She liked the idea of there only being ash and bone left once she was gone.” Booker explained. 

“A mix of techniques fitting of someone who saw so much life and so much death.” Nile added.

Quynh stood up and walked away. Leaving the rest of the family behind. 

After breakfast André helped his babbo, Nicky, with dishes. He tried to ask questions in the weird mix of languages his parents spoke to one another. The language his papa seemed to spend a lot of André’s childhood learning and adding to. “Babbo, who...” he tried to think if he had ever heard the word mummify in either of his parents ancient dialects before just going with the French word. “Who mummified, Aunt Andy’s body.” 

His babbo handed him another dish to dry. “Your papa and baba did it together. Book did most of the work, I think it was important to him. He needed that time alone with her to get closure. She was his mentor and his best friend in ways we couldn’t be, at least not for a long time. Baba helped him with the parts that required two people. None of the rest of us had the strength to prepare her body the way she wanted. So Aunt Nile and I carved a coffin of sorts from the hallowed our stump of one of her favorite trees. I did the heavy lifting while she did the more precise detail work.” He explained, occasionally pausing to wash a dish before passing it off to André to dry. 

“What about Aunty Quynh?” He asked. His aunt had always seemed so strong and stern so he had almost expected she would handle the proceedings with a grace a diligence that didn’t betray her true emotions.

“She is mourning. I believe she is most upset because she missed spending the last years of Andy’s immortality by her side. She is crushed that the past twenty something years hasn’t been enough. She isn’t ready to share her grief with us though. Even Sebastien has been unable to get her to open up.” Nicky explained to his son.

André nodded. “How are you holding up? I know papa and baba are more vocal in their grief, I don’t want you to bury yours if it’s hurting you.” 

“I’m actually doing better. You know your baba. Yusuf feels everything with such passion. Once he worked through his grief and rage he came to me and helped me work through some of mine.” Nicky explained. “He held me and your papa while we cried it out.”

“How is papa taking it?” André asked, his papa had always been open about his struggle with depression once André was old enough to understand. 

“He took it hard, as much as we knew that she was mortal now, as much as we knew she was going to die soon, the suddenness of it shocked him.” Nicky explained. “He’s spoken with his therapist a few times but this is the first time he’s lost someone since his mortal family died. He doesn’t do well with abandonment. I think preparing Andy’s body helped him come to terms with it. Well, that and the fact that she didn’t hate him when he died.” Nicky added off hand. “I think learning you were immortal, as much as he hates to see you suffer helped him a lot. It’s a huge comfort knowing he won’t lose another child.”

“He never talks about his mortal family. I know he was married. I’ve seen the sketches baba made for him but it always seemed like such a sore subject.” André admitted.

“It’s just not a pleasant story. I’ve found happiness again so I don’t feel the need to remember.” 

André and Nicky both jolted up. They hadn’t heard Booker enter. “Papa! I didn’t hear you come in.” André smiled.

“André, it was never something I intended to keep from you. My wife was wonderful and I was the proud father of three sons. I tried to be a good husband and father but when they were suffering and aging and I remained the same they started to become jealous. When I couldn’t share my abilities with them, they began to resent me. I will always love them, but sharing my life with you and your fathers has helped revitalize me so I could enjoy life once more.” Booker explained in a matter of fact way. 

André smiled through a new set of tears he cried for his father. “I’m sorry you had to go through that papa. I love you and I’m glad you survived it all.” 

“As am I.” Booker replied pulling his son in for another hug. “Is it time to start preparing the feast, Nicoló?”

“Yes, if you could gather the others?” Nicky replied.

André spent the rest of the day going back and forth between helping in the kitchen and helping build the funeral pyre out in the yard. His dads and Aunt Nile rotated in and out of the kitchen as each took turns preparing some of Aunt Andy’s favorite food, each taking turns helping to construct the funeral pyre. 

At some point he wandered to the stables, intent on giving Aunt Andy’s horses some affection. She led them on daily rides across the grounds so they probably were missing her a lot. He was surprised to find Aunt Quynh in there brushing out one of Andy’s favorite horses.

“André, what brings you here?” She said without looking up from her work.

“I... I thought the horses might be a bit lonely without Aunt Andy. I thought I would come check on them.” He explained.

“They miss her of course. How could they not miss Andromache? I have been taking them out every day and they seem to like that.” She shared. “I always considered beasts of burden. I was never as an enamored with them as Andromache, but they were there. They seem to be the only ones who understand my loss.” 

“I’m sorry.” André offered. He wasn’t sure what else to say. 

“Don’t apologize!” She shouted. “You only knew her for a few short years. I have known her for more than a thousand. No one knows how that feels. I drowned hundreds of millions of times and survived only because I knew that whether I decided to kiss her or kill her she would be there when I was finally released from my prison.” 

André didn’t think she was making much sense. Aunt Andy has the horses for even less time than he knew her for yet they could understand what he could not? Maybe it had to do with the unconditional love she felt for both Aunt Quynh and the horses? “All right. I’ll go then.” He offered, turning to leave. 

The night arrived quickly and André found he wasn’t quite sure where to stand. Nile stood with a torch lit in hand. His fathers came from one of the barns. Nicky and Joe took either side at the bottom of an intricately carved out tree stump that took the place of a coffin. Booker stood at the head while Quynh walked behind holding Andy’s labrys and a bottle of vodka in her hands.

André was surprised to see as they got closer than Andy’s body was actually frozen, a sheet of ice aligning perfectly with the opening in the wood. He assumed that must have been part of the process and filed the knowledge away to ask about later. 

When they reached the pyre they heft the coffin over their shoulders and slid it to the center before leaving it there. André watched, feeling a bit like an outsider as Nile and Quynh looked at each other and seemed to speak with their eyes. Nile urging Quynh to say something. “Andromache would not want words or tears. She would want drinks and laughter. So we will light the fire and then we will give a toast to her.” 

Nile lit the pyre and flames started to consume it. They pulled over some shot glasses they had planned to use later tonight and Quynh poured out a round for each of them. André was surprised to see his papa take one. His baba would drink on special occasions but his papa never drank. His fathers had always been honest with him and told him that Booker had a drinking problem for a long time. It wasn’t quite the way mortals would have one because they died so often that it was difficult to become addicted but drinking to numb his pain became a habit and then a vicious cycle since the alcohol was just another depressant. All this was to say, he didn’t expect his father to drink. 

When they clinked their glasses together his papa winked at him, seemingly sensing his concern and then proceeded to throw his drink right into the newly lit pyre, pouring out a glass for his mentor, his friend, his older sister.

After the toast Quynh held the labrys close to her before planting it in the ground in front of the pyre like a grave marker. 

Nicky and Joe started to unwrap the feast everyone had spent the afternoon making while Booker and Nile led Quynh to one of the many deck chairs that had been set up in a semi circle near the pyre. One my one they got food and drinks. Nile partook in beer while Nicky had turned to wine. Joe had made mocktails, some sort of virgin pina colada for himself and Booker and Quynh stuck with the straight vodka. André found himself drawn to share his babbo’s wine. They are and drank and told stories of Aunt Andy, each one more elaborate and unbelievable than the last. 

“When I first met Andy. I was determined she would not take me to a secondary location because like John Mullaney says, you know that’s where bad shit goes down. So she gets me on this plane and a I try to fight her even though she already stabbed me once for fighting back. This time though I manage to handcuff her after a brawl and I’m feeling pretty good about myself. Then she says something in Russian and shoots the fucking pilot. Or at least I thought she had, so I’m freaking out and releasing her so she can land the plane only to discover that the thing she said in Russian was telling the pilot to duck.” 

“When we first started dreaming of Nicky and Joe I didn’t want to go get them. We had already lost Lykon. Why would I want more stupid brothers to get attached to only to have them die. So Andy tells me, Quynh, you keep complaining how every time we travel with men they hit on one of us so you have to castrate them and now we’re dreaming of men who clearly have no interest in us romantically and you want to turn them down?”

Nicky and Joe laughed especially hard at that. “I’m glad you decided to come get us after all.”

“Andy spent the entire way to Russia to pick up Booker calling him the hot Frenchman that haunted our wet dreams.” Joe joked. 

“I mean she spoke the truth.” Nicky added.

“Eww, dads.” André chimed in.

“One time she told a lieutenant we were serving under that one of us was a woman who was cross dressing and he spent the rest of the campaign giving Nicky the evil eye because he thought that Nicky was a girl but he couldn’t toss him out because he was too skilled with a sniper rifle.” Booker chimed in.

“Is that why Lieutenant Morrison hated me? I thought it was because he thought I was Italian.” Nicky objected.

“Nicky, you are Italian.” Nile teased.

“No! I am Genoan!” Nicky argued.

“Which is the same thing since the unification of Italy.” Nile shouts back.

Nicky seems to pout about that for a while and Joe and Booker share a look behind his back. 

André hasn’t seen his family quite like this before. They always shared stories about their adventures but something about this seems more intimate. It makes him feel a little like an interloper. Maybe it’s because he had always been treated like a child being told a bedtime story or maybe, he just felt like a child because they had all lived for so long and now that was a life he too would experience.

They spent most of the night like that. They shared stories of mishaps or funny stories about Andy. André spent most of the night taking it all in. By the time morning came Nile had finished off a six pack and had helped Quynh with the last dregs of a second bottle vodka. He and his babbo, Nicky, had probably finished off close to two bottles each while Booker and Joe started seeing which cocktails would still taste the same without alcohol which led to a lengthy discussion on whether lime juice and simple syrup was the same thing as limeade when it came to a margarita base. 

By the time dawn came around and the pyre had all but burned out they had settled into a quiet silence. This was the end to what most of them had known for their entire immortal lives. Andy has found them all, willingly or not, through the dreams and brought them together as a family. She had led them, had led most of them for hundreds of years and now she was gone. One of the few constants in a world where everything changed around them as they remained stagnant. It was a reminder than the state they were in now wouldn’t last forever.

When the pyre finally died, Quynh sent them all away so that she could finish the task of cleaning up what remained. André saw his parents curled against each other each trying to hold together in their own way as they headed to their room. Nile set herself to work, handling her tears by cleaning up the dishes and throwing away any trash from the night before. He headed to his own room and though some tears came, he knew that he couldn’t understand the depth of their grief.


	4. The Training

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is honestly a bit disjointed but as much as I love writing this series I’ve ended up with a lot on my plate this past week that leads me to the conclusion that I need to finish it. I know myself well enough to know that if I stop and take a break I may not go back to it so I want to finish it while I have a chance.
> 
> I originally planned on writing out a whole plot line for the last chapter with a lot of dialogue and intrigue but I think it’s going to be more of an epilogue. Maybe I’ll flesh it out more one day.
> 
> Thank you for joining me on this adventure and expect the last part soon!

In the weeks and months following Andy’s death a lot changed for the team. André went back to the Galapagos to finish out his volunteer work there. He found he wasn’t able to stay for long before he was needed back at home. His parents had been saddled with the responsibility of caring for Aunt Andy’s farm when Aunt Quynh decided the best way to deal with her grief was to start picking up missions and dragging as much of the family as she could along.

Today the farm was near empty, only papa and baba remained behind. The former remained because he argued he was too out of practice, though everyone knew it was also he wasn’t sure how he would fare mentally if he went back into battle. The latter remained because whenever possible they agreed someone should remain behind in case things went sour. Usually baba and babbo took turns in that task.

André had just finished feeding the horses when he saw Booker sharpening one of Aunt Andy’s lesser labrys, used for training. On the other side of the courtyard Joe stood nearby practicing some of the more difficult spins and tricks he could do with a scimitar. They weren’t really useful in battle most of the time, his babbo once told him, but they made him happy so they encouraged it.

“What are you guys doing?” André found himself asking.

“Practicing.” Booker responded without looking up at his son.

“Sebastien here is the only one who showed any potential with the labrys so Andy left her collection to him. Quynh told him he has to get back in shape if he’s ever going to wield the good one, the one Andy carried on missions.” Joe explained to their son.

“The only one? None of the rest of you can use the labrys?” André asked, taking a seat next to Booker. 

“I mean, it’s a weapon. We all have more than enough training to swing it around.” Joe answered with a shrug.

“To Andy it was an art form. Any of them can swing it yes, in fact Quynh is fairly good with it. None of them were able to master Andy’s techniques to her satisfaction.” Booker explained.

“I mean, that’s true. Most of us already came with a weapon we had to be trained to use and were proficient with. Book came from an unfortunate time where guns were becoming popular and swords were reserved for the elite.” Joe laughed.

“Wouldn’t a gun be more practical though?” André asked.

“Non, not at that time. The rifles were tedious to use and terribly inaccurate compared to those found today. Beyond that, while guns are perfect for ranged attacks, nothing can quite compare to close combat with a bladed weapon, especially when your opponent isn’t expecting it.” Booker explained. 

“Aunt Nile wouldn’t have had much practice in using blades, didn’t she learn to use the labrys.” André asked.

“Of course, Andy made sure we all tried it at one point or another. It just wasn’t her style.” Joe offered.

“They are all proper soldiers, André. They all had some form of training and chose to fight, I was just caught for a forgery and conscripted. I got my training on the road and served as cannon fodder against the Russian army.” Booker explained before putting down the whetstone and standing to face Joe. 

“Come on, babe, It’s not like we were all career military or anything. I needed to be able to defend myself and any cargo I carried as a merchant and Nicky foolishly believed the Catholic Church. Nile was the only one we know was a soldier by choice which really, and given her father’s legacy and considering that the military was one of the few routes to a low cost or free education and reasonable benefits we can’t really fault her for that.” 

“What about Aunt Quynh and Andy?” André asked as his parents took up fighting stances against one another and started to circle the ring their family had built for precisely this purpose.

“Oh no, they were warriors for as long as we’ve known them.” Joe commented.

“I’m not sure they were ever satisfied being anything else for more than a short period of time.” Booker added.

Before André could ask anything more the two lunged at one another. It seemed almost more like a dance than combat. Booker used his considerable height and longer arms to make up the slight difference in reach provided by Joe’s curved blade. Joe had clearly practiced more recently or perhaps it was just the muscle memory from one thousand years of blade work but either way it was easy to see that Joe’s moves were mostly defensive with the few offensives techniques all meant to push Booker to do better and think faster. 

This continued for a long time. Occasionally one would get a hit in but it healed so fast it was barely noticeable. About two hours in the tide started to shift a bit, it wasn’t that Joe was tiring in fact it seemed that he was more attentive to the fight than ever. Instead it seemed as if Booker started to gain momentum. With each hit he seemed to be recalling some sort of lost knowledge. Every block taught him something he had forgotten. By three hours in the dance had chanced, no longer was once partner leading and the other following, instead they moved together each attack countering the last. At the end of four hours they had fallen to the ground laughing their weapons forgotten at their side. 

André walked over and passed them towels and water that he assumed they had set out before the fight began. “That was amazing! Papa, I never saw you fight like that!! Baba the way you move is so effortless and that move where you ducked below an attack just to jump above the next was so cool.” André trailed off continuing to ramble about moments he found particularly impressive.

Joe and Booker both smiled as they took the offered gifts. “Thanks André, I’m glad you enjoyed it. We’d always be happy to teach you.” Joe offered.

André frowned. He had never considered learning. He’d known for about ten years that his family had been known to kick ass and save the day but aside from basic self defense and knife skills none of them had every explicitly offered to teach him. Perhaps they had wanted him to show interest or maybe it was now a necessity because of his immortality.

As if reading his thoughts Booker chimed in. “You don’t have to learn. It is not a necessity that you fight. I’m not even certain I intend to fight unless necessary. If you want to learn though, we are always happy to teach you.” 

“Thanks, papa.” André replied, his smile returning. He wanted to help people and perhaps even more he wanted to help animals but he was certain there were ways to do so without fighting. Still, it could be useful in a pinch. It might have saved him from dying in the first place. “I’ll consider it.”

“If you decide you do want to learn don’t think you’re limited to just what we regularly use, your papa used to say Andromache had forgotten more ways to kill than most men would learn. I have always believed he was the outlier among most men. He was Andy’s best student. One time...”

“Don’t exaggerate. I learned from all of you.” Booker objected. “Besides, it’s not like I’m that good.” 

“He’s killed a man with a rubber ducky once.” Joe deadpanned.

“Is that true papa?” André asked, unsure if his baba was just joking.

“Sadly it is. It was a small one and I may have made sure it blocked a man’s airway.” Booker admitted somewhat embarrassed.

The next few months went by the same, the team coming and going from the house as they took missions to keep Quynh away from thoughts of Andy. André knew she had spent the first few years back on land with him and papa and was fine (or at least that’s what he believed as a child) but having Andy again only to lose her must have taken something from her she was not prepared to lose.

Booker was a constant around the house. He helped André with the horses and even made some connections with the neighboring farms that in turn led to André getting jobs looking after the nearby animals as well. When they weren’t handling the day to day maintenance of the horse farm André often saw his papa training with the labrys or practicing shooting in a range built in an empty barn. Sometimes he studied modern security systems or worked on finding them jobs over secure video chats with Copley as well. Everything he did seemed to be geared towards rejoining the team in some capacity.

André often watched him work with some interest. The idea of learning to fight always in the back of his mind. It wasn’t until one day when Nicky approached him that he actually participated. “Would you like to play a game?” He had asked.

André looked him over with some curiosity. His babbo was wearing old threadbare clothes and carrying two rifles. “What sort of game?” 

“Sebastien asked me to help him work on his situational awareness so I plan to shoot him with this paint gun. Would you like to help?” 

André looked over at the rifle and shrugged. “Sure, why not.”

Nicky handed him a rifle and then pulled a pair of clear protective glasses. “Put these in just to be safe, it’s painful and time consuming to clean paint out of your eye.”

It wasn’t the first time he had held a gun. When he was 18, Aunt Nile had said if the family was going to continue keep as many guns around as a small nations armory then he needed to know the details of gun safety. That included the cleaning the parts of the weapon and learning how to shoot. It would however be the first time that he turned a gun on another person. Even though he knew it was only filled with paint the knowledge that his papa couldn’t die was a comfort.

This sort of training turned out to be more like tag than anything else. He and Nicky would use the barn lofts to try and spy Booker as the older Frenchman journeyed around the property trying to collect flags Nicky had left around the property. When they spotted him, Nicky would show his son the best route of attack against one of his other father’s. As the game progressed Booker seemed to avoid them more easily and paint ended up on the walls more often than not. What André didn’t expect was for his papa to have his own paint gun and there were more than a few occasions where Nicky ducked faster leaving only André to take the barrage of multicolored bullets.

When Booker was on the last flag Nicky placed himself in the loft under some hay to lay a trap. André thought it was kind of obvious but he realized that was the point. With Booker distracted by Nicky, André would be able to get a clear shot in on his father.

He managed to hit him right in the back of the head, his father turning around with a laugh as he shot André in the shoulder. Nicky shot Booker in turn and André aimed at Nicky. Soon enough the three were laughing and covered in dirt and paint. 

He knew that playing with paint and immortals was different from what it would be like on an actual mission where he might have to kill a mortal. He didn’t want to make light of that. Still, there was something exciting and new about the experience. He enjoyed spending the day with his parents as a student and an equal. Perhaps, it would be worthwhile to learn at least. Even if he never used whatever combat training he got, it would still be something he could do that would connect him to his family.

It wasn’t until nearly a year after Booker took back up training that André worked up the courage to ask. He was having a quiet dinner with his parents while Nile was out babysitting Quynh at the bar to make sure she didn’t slit anyone’s throat if they got handsy while she was drunk. After a few drinks Quynh forgot that breaking their bones was acceptable but actually killing them left too much of a mess. 

“Will you teach me how to fight?” André asked, suddenly during a break in conversation. 

“Of course.” Joe commented at the same time as Nicky replied “Yes.” They both turned to Booker upon realizing he didn’t add anything.

“If you wish. May I ask what sparked this?” Booker replied finally after considering for a minute in silence.

“I’ve been thinking about it ever since I saw you and baba fight together.” André confessed. “I wasn’t sure what I wanted until I helped babbo out with the paint guns a few months ago.”

“And you’re certain this is what you want?” Booker asked.

“I mean, I don’t know that I want to fight. I don’t really think I want to hurt other people. I just know that, it would be useful to learn just in case and it would help me understand, what you’ve been through. What you sacrificed.” André admits.

“All right then. Tomorrow we’ll go to the armory safe and try some things out. See what suits you.” Booker agreed.

“I think he’d do well with some of your throwing knives, ohhh or that hatchet you used to run around with during the American Civil War.” Joe commented to Booker. 

“We could find him a weapon that would not be so easily lost. Maybe a sword. He’d do well with a scimitar like, you.” Nicky argued back to Joe.

“And he is strong enough to wield your blade which would give him a superior range.” Booker directed towards Nicky. “He has the build to wield most anything we own, we’ll have to see what speaks to him.” 

The next morning he was taken down to the armory. It was a place he had seldom spent much time in. He had no reason to unless he was talking to one of his dads while they packed their bags for a mission or were cleaning their weapons. It was huge. Larger than a walk in closet with cases, racks, and shelves lining the wall. Each section had been meticulously organized by Booker so that weapons were sorted by type (bladed, blunt, projectile, etc) then by location of origin and period. It was frankly overwhelming. Each of his parents picked out a few they specialized in to have André try but André found himself drawn to the one wall they all seemed to be away from. It was a stand with individual holes, each holding up a staff, nagita, halberd, spear or other form of long stick with or without a blade on the end. 

Booker seemed to notice his curiosity and grabbed a bō from stand before adding it to the pile. “It’s not something we use often because they’re unwieldy for modern travel but that doesn’t mean we can’t figure out a solution if you like it.” He offers.

“I mean it’s not like baba and babbo’s weapons are any better for travel.” André commented.

“You are right about that.” Booker confided in his son. 

By the time they finished in the armory they each had a handful of weapons that were carried to the sparring ring. Once there they went through each weapon one by one to find one that suited André. 

Some weapons were thrown aside immediately. “Babbo, this sword is ridiculous. It’s so slow and unwieldy.” André complained when using a lighter version of Nicky’s blade that they kept for practice. 

“The real thing is much worse.” Joe joked. “Only white boys would look at such a ridiculous sword and find a way to make it useful just to suit their aesthetic.”

Booker rolled off the boulder he had been sitting on with a laugh. He was one of the white boys in question since he had taken Nicky’s sword and learned to use it during some downtime in the 1890s but the look on Nicky’s face was priceless. 

“It’s a perfect defensive weapon with a reach longer than most opponents. It like every weapon has its place. You’re scimitar hardly did well against armored foes.” Nicky chided.

The scimitar made it a little bit longer in André’s hands but the curved blade provided some difficulty and would require proper tutelage. André, ever his papa’s boy excelled with knives of all sizes both handheld and throwing varieties. He seemed to think the feel of the bayonet was right which is when Nicky and Joe steered him away.

The labrys while fun was another weapon that if used improperly was just as likely to cut you as it was the other person but André had seen his father and Aunt Andy with it which was enough to make him want to come back to it. Throwing hatchets didn’t work as well as knives and using a bow and arrows was a non-starter. He respected his Aunt Quynh but he would not be her student. He didn’t want his death as a regularly occurrence.

Eventually they narrowed down the list of weapons until the no pile was bigger than the yes. The final weapon was the bō his papa had grabbed after seeing him staring at the staves and polearms, they had saved it until the end because it was one of the few weapons without a blade and therefore was safer to wield after he started to get tired from trying out countless weapons like they were clothes. 

The wooden staff was firm and unyielding in his hands and yet it fit perfectly when he wrapped his fingers around it. He swung it around in his hands a few times trying to imitate what he had seen his movies. His papa was swinging a sword in a similar motion just to show him how best to rotate his grip without dropping the weapon. He found he liked it. It was blunt which would make it less deadly than a gun but its reach would be useful in combat. If they could make one collapsible while maintaining the structural integrity of it, he could see carrying one with him regularly for protection. 

Joe clapped and Nicky joined in a moment later. Both could see that he had found something that felt right, more than any of the other weapons that just felt fine or good did. 

The afternoon ended which each of them showing off some move they learned or could do with the bō. Though he was certain that none of the techniques were part of any proper form he found himself trying to learn them anyway.

After selecting a weapon André started to participate in training as time allowed. He didn’t want to give up taking care of the horses or veterinary medicine entirely but he knew that his family’s need to move on before they were noticed meant that they wouldn’t be able to care for the farm forever. Especially with Quynh pushing them on more and more missions as she tried to outrun her grief. When opportunities struck that André could give one or two horses a good him he often took it.

Two years after he returned home was the first confirmation that they wouldn’t be able to stay forever. 

“Will you be all right if I go on a mission?” His papa asked one night over dinner while both his other parents were out on missions.

André looked up a bit surprised. “Yes, of course.” He replied without thinking’s Then... “I wasn’t sure you were actually going to go back.”

“I don’t know that I am.” Booker replied frankly. “At least not regularly.” He explained. “The team has a mission that needs a fifth person to complete. I need to know if this is a lifestyle I intend to go back to or if I fully intend to serve as the technical and logistical support except in emergencies. This kills two birds with one stone.”

“Then of course, you have to go.” André agreed. He wasn’t sure how he felt about his father possibly going back into the fray but that wasn’t his choice to make.

What André learned in the weeks following was that while his family worked in ruthless precision on the battlefield, his papa wasn’t cut out for that life given the opportunity for another. When his parents came home they came home all together. All of them were physically fine and for a few moments André thought it might be business as usual but when huffed his papa, the older Frenchman all but fell limp in his arms. He struggled to hold him up, surprised at the sudden weight but both his other fathers came over to help move Booker to the chair.

“Are you all right papa?” André asked, walking over and placing Booker’s hand in his.

“Yes, apologies André, I was just a bit emotional. I think fighting takes much more out of me when I’m not pushing myself to do so over a death wish.” Booker supplied.

“It’s all right.” Nicky consoled while Joe chimed in with his own comfort. “You don’t have to push yourself, you don’t have to fight.” 

“Why don’t we just relax on the couch. André is here, we’re not here. We’ll order some take out and watch some historically inaccurate movies.” Nicky offered.

Booker moved over to the couch and pulled André into his arms, cradling his now adult son like a child. “You were the best thing to come from this. You taught me how to live again and I am so grateful that I have the opportunity to watch you grow and love your fathers.” 

André curled closer to his father trying to provide him the comfort he needed. “I didn’t do anything. You did it on your own because you knew I needed you.” 

Joe and Nicky returned and wrapped themselves up with Booker and André. Joe took a place behind Booker’s back while Nicky sat at the other end of the couch with Booker’s legs now placed on his lap. 

The next few days were slow as Booker pulled himself out of the headspace the mission put him on. Quynh and Nile even came home after hearing how bad it was. Quynh was quick to apologize and encourage Booker that he had more than earned the right to avoid the battlefield. Booker argued that he had insisted on going but thanked her for her thoughtfulness. After a few weeks it was like almost nothing happened. Booker still trained himself and taught André just in case but he also started upgrading his setup and receiving files from Copley. He was going to take back over the logistical aspects of the team with the benefit of Copley’s improvements over the years. The man had more than earned the right to retire now that he was nearing eighty.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I forgot when I initially posted it but Booker’s rubber ducky murder is very inspired by [this](%E2%80%9C) post on tumblr.


	5. The Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for sticking with me. Today is probably the last time I’ll be able to post for a bit so I wanted to make sure I got it out. 
> 
> I realize it’s not my best work but I wanted to get it out because I knew I might not revisit it.
> 
> I had this idea of what would happen for a while now so I wanted to touch on it.

Roughly seven years after his first death André found himself in the back of a helicopter heading to the first mission where he wouldn’t be providing support or a quick getaway. He had only started joining on missions at all after Aunt Quynh finally satisfied her death wish and joined Aunt Andy two years ago. His family made sure to keep him from the action. He had only been on one mission that even required him to draw a weapon

This one would be different because it was personal. Even his papa was in attendance. They had started dreaming of a new immortal six weeks back. Despite their best efforts they couldn’t place his location for the first four weeks. They knew their new family was a male or at least outwardly appeared as such but even with Joe’s sketches they hadn’t found him on CCTV or in any missing persons database. The man spent most of his immortal life blindfolded or unconscious which didn’t make it any easier. André thought he seemed somewhat familiar from the few glimpses he got but it may have just been his athletic model-like physique. 

They finally found them when they heard voices arguing about a going rate for a trained hunting pet. It seemed their new edition was to be auctioned off to the highest bidder somewhere in Russia if the language was anything to go off of. From there it was some searches on the dark web until they found an auction that looked promising.

That is what led to their next problem. They couldn’t just enter the auction and buy him his freedom. It wasn’t just their desire to shut down human traffickers that spurred this decision but also the selective clientele list that left no room for them on the guest list. Instead they would have to infiltrate and destroy it before the auction took place.

The plan was simple, Booker would steal their records and data while planting some bombs, Joe would cover him so that if all went well Booker wouldn’t have to fight. André would go with Nile and help get hostages out while Nile covered him so hopefully he wouldn’t have to fight too much. Nicky would stand guard over the exit and provide back up for either team. 

The plan went off without a hitch. At least, it started that way. Joe and Booker got the information and headed to the exit without running into trouble. 

André and Nile made it to the cells and picked the locks with ease. When they reached the final cell they found what could only be the new immortal. He was bound and suspended such that he could not move far or even get enough leverage to kill or maim himself in an effort to escape. His skin was pale under the dim light of their headlamps and freckles dotted his skin. André thought it might be a darker olive tone in proper lighting. The man was fit with hair that was trying to curl despite being cropped close to his head. André began to unshackle him and soon he fell to the ground. He grunted, not expecting the sudden fall. André pulled the blindfold off and saw a pair of beautiful brown eyes reflected back at him. The look on the man’s face was one of shock and a little bit of horror.

“I knew I was in hell.” He said without explanation.

Suddenly it clicked. The freckles. The skin tone. They eyes. This man may just be the man who killed him seven years ago. It was hard to know for sure but his words seemed to point that way.

“Can he stand?” Nile called out.

“Yeah.” André replied after checking that nothing was broken. He lifted the other man up and urged him to follow. “I’m André, that’s Nile. We’re going to get you out of here and then we can talk about whether or not you’ll spend the rest of your immortal life in hell.”

Nile raised an eyebrow but otherwise said nothing as they headed back to the rendezvous point. They made it without issue and once they were clear of the blast zone and had gotten all of the victims out Nicky triggered the remote detonator. 

Booker had set up for a humanitarian group to collect the other victims while they made their escape with the fledgling immortal. It was when they finally loaded into the helicopter that the shock wore off and the very confused man finally spoke up. “Who the hell are you people?” 

“We’re people like you.” Nile answered. “We don’t die or more accurately we don’t remain dead. What is your name?”

While Nicky and Joe were the oldest among the group of relatively young immortals, Nile was the clear leader. In a pinch any of them could fulfill that role if necessary but Nile was the only one who really had the personality for it. Therefore, it was Nile who answered the question the new immortal asked.

“I’m Noam.” He seemed too shocked by the current turn of events to lie about his name. Despite that, It was clear from how he held himself that he had formal training. That made sense if what André suspected was true and Noam was the man who ended his mortal life. 

“Nice to meet you Noam, as André told you, I’m Nile and this is Joe, Nicky, and Booker.” 

“Sorry, if I forget your names, I don’t make a habit of recalling the names of figments of torture induced nightmares.” He responded.

“Torture? That’s a new one.” Joe commented.

“How else do you explain him?” He pointed to André. The team looked at André with confusion,

“So it was you.” André replied narrowing his eyes. “What are the chances of that?”

“Do you know this man?” Nicky asked. 

“Using the face of the first innocent I had to harm in order fulfill a mission is messed up.” Noam said hitting his own head. “Not sure where the rest of you come in.”

“You what??” Booker replied jumping over Joe and Nicky to snap Noam’s neck. The younger immortal still thought he was hallucinating so he did nothing except grasp as his own neck to try and regain airflow once it was cut off. He died much as André did, via a neck wound.

Given that the newest immortal had killed one of their own, the team headed to a safehouse out of an abundance of caution. When Noam woke up it was only the two he had initially seen, Nile and André in the room with him.

“Still think you’re hallucinating?” Nile asked. 

“I’m not quite sure. This all seems pretty elaborate for a dream.” the younger immortal answered. 

“It’s all real. I’ll shoot you if you want proof.” André offered from where he sat in the corner.

“Where are the other men?” Noam asked.

“They blowing off some steam because if they were here they’d probably break every bone in your body.” Nile explained. “After all you killed their son.”

“Did I? I don’t recall hurting kids. I’m not a monster.” Noam argued.

“Yes. You did. As explained we’re immortal. We don’t age either. I’m their kid and you’ve already admitted to breaking my neck.” André argued.

It took a while for André and Nile to convince Noam that he was immortal. It even included a practical demonstration on Nile’s part. In the end they learned that Noam Dohan was a former Israeli spy who had died and revived while captured. André had seen him with two of his co-workers trying time catch an enemy spy who had gotten away with state secrets. They didn’t have permission to run the mission they were given so when they realized they mistimed their window and André saw he had to die. They didn’t have the crew required to make André disappear which is why they ran him off the road and snapped his neck to make it look like an accident.

Further investigation on Booker’s part (after several apologies from Noam and some strong arming from Nile) revealed that his agency knew he was dead but had not seen him revive which left them with far less mess to clean up. 

It was strange to see the immortals try to bring a new member into their ranks yet it was very needed. While they had practice working on smaller teams they were most experienced working in groups of four so with Booker working behind the scenes and André acting as a non-combatant. It took a while to get Noam up to par, especially when Nicky and Joe kept “accidentally” killing him. Eventually though, they all managed to work together. 

In time they grew to like their new member. It wasn’t difficult in the long run. Noam had felt bad about having to kill André but as the most junior member of the team his superiors wanted to make sure he could follow orders. His apologies were even accepted by Booker after the first fifty years or so. The older immortal may had killed him several times before that but in the end they made a truce as it became more and more obvious he was hopelessly devoted to making things up to André.

It was another twenty years after that before Noam worked up the courage to ask André out but when they did it seemed to be the sort of eternal relationship that would last.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for hanging with me. It’s been a joy to tell this story. I always imagined that André would have a relationship early in his immortality that was similar to Nicky and Joe’s. I also think that perhaps way, way, way, down the road that they add a third much like his parents, perhaps a woman or non binary individual who would eventually take over for Nile?
> 
> I also see Nile finding love on her terms but didn’t have time to get into that.
> 
> Again sorry this was a bit rushed but I didn’t want to risk leaving a permanent cliffhanger.


End file.
